I think you brought the feeling pretty well. There was quite a lot
of camera shake though that I thought distracted from what
you are trying to tell and show. Als the first title / logo is hard
to read (black on black).

I´m thinking about making a documentary too, but I want to be totally independent until it´s finished. What books with theory and technical info you recommend me? What is the basic equipment? I was thinking about something that matched EXACTLY to what you said you used in The Promise: 3 CCD cam, shotgun mic, lavalier mic. Did you record your audio with a DAT recorder or it was direct to the cam? What kind of light did you use?

If you want to say a little more about making a documentary, I´m sure everybody will be thankful.

I would encourage you to make use of the wealth of knowledge and experience on this site. This was my first port of call, really.

Then when I got my camera I went around a few charities and offered to do promotional/fundraising videos for them. That gave me a lot of hands-on experience with the camera and the editing. It also helped when I later came to try and get funding as I had a showreel of work that my funder could see.

As I have said, I used a Canon XL-1, shot gun and lav mike set-up straight into the camera using a break-out box. I used only available daylight and did a lot of hand-held stuff, which isn't easy in the heat of the jungle, I can tell you.

The only real negative about the Canon was the size: sometimes it was too intrusive to use in sensitive areas (especially as I was being watched and followed by the Thai military intelligence most of the time.) A smaller cam would have been better sometimes, or one that looks more like a tourist's handycam, do you know what I mean?

Anyway I hope that helps you. Read everything you can: Digital Film making by Scott Billups is excellent, Guerilla Film Makers Handbook is really good but not so useful for documentaries. Michael Wiese has also written some useful books. And practice: don't leave your cam in the box, get it out and shoot stuff!